


Prosper

by Inumidoriko



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Zombies, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 06:33:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 18,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13607619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inumidoriko/pseuds/Inumidoriko
Summary: The world wasn't supposed to end up this way. There wasn't supposed to be an actual zombie apocalypse. Hollywood didn't prepare them for this type of reality, and yet here Alex stood- among the impossible- fighting for her life, trying not to die. Or worse, become one of them.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [The entire GD fandom](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=The+entire+GD+fandom).



> Hey friends! This is just the prologue, nothing too exciting but explains wtf happened to the world.
> 
> Italics mean past recollections that lead to events of the present in the chapter.

Blue eyes, aged and like ice, looked down upon the papers on his desk. They were loosely grasped between his wrinkled fingers. There was a slight shake to his hands, but his eyes remained sharp, focused. Looking up from the words he was reading, he leveled an even look at the dark skinned man standing opposite his desk. 

“Mr. Marshall,” He started, voice soft, even. It didn’t stop the twitch of the dark man’s eyes as he knew the wrath that was coming. It wasn’t something he made a habit of being subjected to. “I’ve taken you under my wing when no one else would. I’ve given you a respectable job, with respectable pay. I’ve treated you like the son I never had.” The paper was turned away from the older man’s face to Marshall. “This…” He struggled for an appropriate word and when he found one, spittle flew from his mouth onto the dark wood of his desk. “... _exposure_ is unacceptable.” He tossed the papers carelessly on the desk. The upturn of his lip curled into a sneer. “Get out of my sight and _fix this mess_.” 

Clenching his teeth, the tall dark skinned man nodded. “Yes, Mr. Bellini.” He made a swift exit, knowing better than to apologize. It wouldn’t fix the clusterfuck they were now in and if anything it would only anger his boss even further. What was he to do with an apology, he’d say. The leak wasn’t exclusively Marshall’s own fault but the breach was his responsibility. There was a rat among their company, and not the kind they experiment on. Which was the issue at hand. 

Bellini Enterprises, on the surface, was a company that manufactured all sorts of pharmaceutical products with an emphasis of _not testing on animals_. It was a brilliant strategy for becoming the top company for manufacturing and distributing. Everyone nowadays wants cruelty free everything. 

Inspectors, both private and government used to come on a regular basis, hoping to catch the company, Eddison Bellini himself, in a lie. Competitors hired spies, journalists from Metropolis to National City. No one found anything contrary to their slogan. Seemingly, until now. 

Bellini Enterprises, the main building, resided in Manhattan, New York. The lab that very few knew about, was in Bar Harbor. On the outside it was a warehouse, and when one walked in, it looked like any other manufacture. The only telltale sign that it was part of Bellini Enterprises was it’s packaging. A large blue B in the far corner with a yellow stripe running through it. It, like many other of Bellini warehouses, was inspected regularly. 

For years everything came back clear, no one found the small little nook at the very back with a shelf full of packages to be sent out. No one discovered that if they look closely enough at the wall behind the large shelf, the wood was worn where it slid open and closed as people passed through. And certainly, no one found the steps behind that wall leading down into the very core of Bellini Enterprises’ existence.

Very literally underneath the surface, there were hundreds of rats, monkeys and a few select human subjects contained in cages and glass confinements. Bellini Enterprises indeed tested on animals and would pay dearly for the animals rights act, human rights act and the lies they told in order to become the most influential company in Manhattan, a sure rising rival to the popularity contest between LexCorp and Lord Technologies. 

The very thought of his company, his _reputation_ , crumbling because of an oversight sent a shot of pain straight through his eyes. It lingered in the back of his head, throbbing, reminding him over and over with each pulse of pain that he should have tightened security, screened his workers more intensively. If he didn’t act fast, there would be no money left in his accounts to save him from the disaster that was rapidly unfolding. 

The shrill ring of the phone brought him roughly out of his thoughts. Grunting, he glared at the offending object but picked it up regardless. “Bellini.” He greeted, the tone of his voice conveying he was in no mood for trivial matters. 

'Konbanwa, Bellini-san.' The voice on the other end of the line was both familiar and welcome. 

“Dr. Saito.” 

'It has come to my...understanding,' Despite being employed by Bellini for just over a decade, the Japanese man still struggled for the correct English words. He managed though and it was something Eddison couldn’t fault him for. 'That we might have been exposed.' Ah, yes. The very reminder Bellini didn’t want or need at that moment. He opened his mouth to tell his head scientist to get back to work and leave the public matters to someone more suited, when he was interrupted by the foreign man. 'It may please you to know the **Prosper Gene** is ready for demonstration.'

Bellini paused and raised a brow. “I understood the gene would take at least six more months to perfect.” 

‘Hai, yes, Bellini-san. We made breakthrough this week. Progress has been...rapid.’ 

This sounded promising. If this was a success, it wouldn’t matter they were under the threat of a scandal exposure. They would have the world in the palm of their hands- his hands. “How soon can I come in with the board?” 

‘Immediately, sir.’ The smile in the Japanese man’s voice was evident. Another sure promise that this secret project, extremely sensitive and highly illegal in these critical stages, was indeed on it’s way to making Bellini Enterprises the most influential company in the world. 

“If this is true, you and your team will have the recognition promised as well as all the funds you’ll need for the rest of your lives.” A tight smile spread Bellini’s lips. “Have it ready for this evening, Dr. Saito, the board and myself will coming to view your breakthrough.”

‘Hai.’ The line hung up between the two of them and for the first time all day, Bellini sat back, a smile of victory playing at his lips. 

_____

 

_Dr. Saito, with his team of five, carefully syringed the prototype gene, ‘Prosper’, into their individual petri dishes. It squirmed, trying to find something to hold onto but the glass was unsubstantial. Soon it’s jagged-like arms retracted into it’s body and sat still._

_Saito looked up at his team, each of them watching their gene through their magnifying glasses._

_“Add your diseases.” He instructed. There was no verbal response, just the sound and movements at the corner of his eye as each member took out a molecule of their assigned diseases. HIV, AIDS, Lupus, Cancer and aged skin cells. Saito had the personal responsibility of correcting the aging process. It was a both a curse and an honor to be given such a delicate task by one so powerful as Bellini-san._

_One by one his team inserted the diseases with the gene and watched. Saito followed suit, adding the 90 year old skin cells and watched with rapt attention as the gene stayed it’s distance. There was no extraction of it’s jagged like arms to reach out and investigate. There was just statis._

_A gasp from one of his team members broke everyone’s concentration. In Japanese, the woman shouted it was ‘eating the cancer, eating the cancer!’ The others moved to have a look but Saito stopped them._

_“Remember your own tasks. That’s merely one of five we must eradicate. There is nothing to be excited over yet.” Still, he got up from his station and took a look through her lens. The gene had indeed devoured the cancer and the infected cell was just as it had been. White, healthy. “Excellent. Distribute it to test subject A589.”_

_With a nod, the woman took her dish and smiled at the gene, heading for the rat section. “Sugoi!” Amazing!_

_Every few days each of his team members gasped and stood, staring in fascination as the gene ‘ate’ the disease until it was completely gone. AIDS, lupus, cancer and HIV were successfully destroyed in the petri dish and being placed inside animals suffering from the conditions. Five days passed respectfully for each and still no word from any of his team on subject progress. Even more frustrating, his gene wanted nothing to do with the aged skin cells._

_Saito frowned, sighing. There might never be a way to reverse such a natural part of life. Hope for his task was fading fast._

_Using one of his utensils, he pushed the skin to the gene. Still nothing. He pushed it further until it was touching. The skin remained wrinkled, old._

_Looking up from the lens, he closed his eyes and wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. This was going nowhere and it was going to get him fired. He was sure of it. Looking into the lens once more, his eyebrows raised. The gene wrapped itself around the skin, pulsing a pale purple before letting it go._

_No way...._

_The skin was smooth, ageless._

_Saito looked up, blinked a few times, and looked back into the dish. Still smooth skin remained and the gene a few inches from it, it’s arms tucked back away. Smiling, the man took the dish and brought it to the human section of the experiment distribution department. A woman, no older than 90, with a nick of skin missing from her arm, sat on her bed. She didn’t look up when Saito came in, didn’t flinch or say a word._

_The scientist tipped her head back and opened her mouth, sliding both the gene and her skin into her body. It was an unconventional way of injecting it into the test subject, but then, this was an unusual ailment to cure._

_Coming out of the room, Saito scribbled his notes on a chart and went to see the others for their progress.To say it was slow was an understatement. It had been one to five days for some, fifteen for others and there was very little improvement._

_“Triple the dosage.” He instructed and with swift nods, his team did as he instructed. With the woman, he used a syringe and injected it into her bloodstream. Very little had changed aside from light returning to her eyes, she made small movements when he walked in every now and then._

_Sitting down with another dish, he had a piece of the gene still pure and untampered with. Using six different syringes, he placed each disease inside the dish and watched, fascinated, as it extracted it’s arms, feeling the things around it. It caressed each one, pulling it in close, as if to say ‘it’s alright, I won’t hurt you’ and with rapt attention, Saito witnessed the gene split in five different pieces, each of them attacking the diseases, almost savage in it’s need to destroy the illness._

_It came back together, morphing into one slightly bigger gene. It was green instead of pallid white. The skin was next and it slid over it._

_The skin decayed._

_Saito curled his lip into a sneer. That was not the end result he wanted._

_This one would have to be destroyed. Carefully, he tucked the dish away into a biohazard bag and placed it in a container meant for an oven to destroy all failed attempts._

_Walking to the human section, he looked into the glass confinement of his test subject and his eyes widened, a hand placing itself on the glass. The ninety year old woman looked no older than twenty five. She was tanned skinned, beautiful. Her hair was thick and dark brown, her eyes almond shaped. She looked like a native princess…_

_Turning to the guard he indicated with his head for him to look inside. “When did this happen?” Based on the wide eyed reaction the guard had, Saito could only assume just recently._

_“I…-”_

_“Nevermind.” He smiled tightly at subject N764 before moving on to the others._

_The rat that was dying of cancer was spry, running on it’s wheel as if it were never sick. The monkeys that were keeled over and looking ghastly with AIDS, HIV and lupus were full and healthy, rolling around their cages for their own entertainment, sticking their feet up in the air and laughing._

_Saito allowed himself a wide smile. Everything had worked._

_Aside from his unauthorized test, everything that they predicted and hoped for couldn’t have gone any better._

_Going to his office, he glanced at his computer screen and frowned._

_**'BELLINI ENTERPRISES MIGHT NOT BE AS ‘CRUELTY FREE’ AS WE THOUGHT'** _

_**An Article by Cat Grant** _

_Picking up his phone, he scanned the article’s contents as he waited for his boss to pick up._

_“Bellini.”_

_“Konbanwa, Bellini-san.”_

_____

Bellini was last to enter the warehouse in the line of seven members. They were all powerful, influential. Rich. Everyone of them resided in New York.

A smile tugged on the corner of his lips when they looked around the large space, full of machines and workers. Confusion furrowed their brows and a couple of them glanced back at Eddison. They were used to meeting in his office in Manhattan, not a warehouse in Maine. With an even pace, he stepped ahead of them.

He received Saito’s reports that afternoon and he was impressed, however, he mostly interested in the age reversing abilities the gene produced. Of course, the men and women behind him were skeptical of his claims but he remained poised as he walked to the back wall and stared straight into the scanner. A green light flashed, recognizing his face, and the door slid open. 

This was it. He was letting them see the core of his operations and everything that he carefully hid from the press and other rival companies. Any other time he would be nervous, but this was a breakthrough even they wouldn’t be able to use against him in any court should they be fool enough to betray him.

Dr. Saito met them at the bottom of the steps, bowing slightly in greeting. 

“This way.” He said, leading them down a narrow corridor, brightly lit above them. He stopped just outside a door and motioned for them to go in. Bellini stood beside him, his hands folded neatly in front of him until the last of them went in. Turning to Saito, he offered his hand and they shook. 

“I look forward to your presentation, doctor.” 

Bowing, the Japanese man went into the room opposite where his team stood, waiting for his instructions. 

A glass window separated them from the board with the monkeys, rats in cages and a young woman strapped to a table. A series of pictures were laid out in front of the council for them to see. Weeks one through fifteen and the progression of the gene with each ailment. 

Dr. Saito was about to speak when the girl twitched. 

He watched her a moment and she twitched again. 

“Something wrong, Dr. Saito?” Bellini asked, a noted of irritation clipping his tone. 

“No, sir, just-” The girl, beautiful and serene, flailed, baring her teeth toward the ceiling. A grave moan tore through her throat and she arched her back, lifting off the table. 

It looked inhuman...demonic. Panic rose through Saito’s chest. The monkeys and rats started next. They thrashed against their cage, biting and clawing to get out. 

The woman, N764, screeched. It only seemed to make the animals more violent, more insistent on escaping their confines.

White mist came through the doors, the vents, filling the viewing room with it’s odorless gas. 

“What the fuck are you playing at, Bellini?!” One of the men yelled, stepping toward the door. The man in question beat him to it, escaping the rooms filling with a cloud of white fog. He locked the door, watching from the glass as the silhouette of each person dropped to the floor. He couldn’t see the team of scientists from his angle but he could only guess they suffered the same fate. 

A shattering sound from behind the door made him squint to see what was happening but the fog was too thick. Listening carefully, he tried to hear what might be going on beyond the door. There was only silence. 

Suddenly a bang against the door made Bellini jump back and he stared into the eyes of the young woman from the viewing room. One of the test subjects. She had been young and beautiful, not a wrinkle on her body. 

The face he was looking at now had a greenish, gangrene tinge. Her eyes were bloodshot with teeth so yellow it made Eddison’s lips curl into a disgusted sneer. Her hand came up, blood dripping from her fingers, trailing down her arm. It was wrinkled and frail looking, a stark contrast to the smooth skin he’d seen not ten minutes before. 

She put her bloody hand on her face and curled her fingers so her nails bit into her skin. Pulling down, she took her flesh with it. It pulled off as easy as dried glue from his fingers when he was a small boy. The...thing kept eye contact, never blinking, never flinching as she peeled away the skin off her face until traces of her muscle, dried and brown, could be seen. Her face was pulled down and remained that way, it’s elasticity long gone with the humanity she once had. The skin around her eyes was stretched with it, making her eyeballs bulge from it’s sockets. 

If she touched one it would surely bob, if not fall out completely. 

Her- it- rested it’s forehead on the glass and she continued to stare at him, bore her gaze into the very core of his existence. The mist started to wrap around her now, obscuring her from view. 

Looking down at the floor, he noticed the same fog in the room was around his feet, snaking it’s way around his legs. 

No…

He ran, taking the stairs two at a time. He looked back and nearly tripped. It was following him… 

Bellini stood in front of the scanner, anxiety rising in his throat as he fought the urge not to look back. The door opened and before he could take a step out, his ankle was grasped and he was pulled down. His face smacked the edge of the stairs with a wet slap, blood spurting from the gash just inflicted. His body was dragged down, crimson trailing from his head. The mist continued, creeping along the floor of the warehouse, silently infecting the workers. 

It seeped through the doors, crawling along the ground as it made it’s way for the bridge, intending toward the people residing in Maine. 

_________

 

_The container was full and it was heavy._

_It took two men on either side to lift it without a huge struggle into the warehouse. They set it on the ground carefully, the glass of it clinking delicately against the concrete floor. One of the men hissed, a bead of sweat sliding down from his forehead to the tip of his nose. When he straightened it dripped off his skin, onto the container._

_“Easy there, Jensen. You’re acting like it’s going to explode at any moment. Stop acting like a pussy.” The second man said, also standing up straight._

_Jensen glared at the other man, pride making his shoulders square despite his obvious nervousness being near the container. “I’m not a pussy, asshole. Do we even know what this shit does, Ricky? What if...what if-”_

_“Stop right there. We’re hired to deliver what the boss needs, not ask questions, not think about what the heavy shit is inside the containers we deliver.” Ricky had held up a hand to stop Jensen from talking anymore but that hadn’t stopped the other man’s eyes from roaming back down to the ominous object between them. “Jensen!” Ricky’s sharp tone brought Jensen’s eyes back to his partner. “Let’s wait outside for the client. Maybe by the time they get there you’ll get your shit together.”_

_Jensen took a deep breath and nodded. Ricky was right. There wasn’t anything to worry about. It was just a container. With a substance that could- No. He shook his head and headed for the door, relieved to be outside._

_“Chill out, man. Our client’s coming.”_

_Jensen was about to retort but the presence of their client, followed by two big men behind him stopped what he was about to say._

_“Gentlemen, I trust the cargo is safely inside?” The man was small, his english sounding broken._

_Ricky nodded. “Yes, sir.”_

_The man nodded to the two bigger men behind him and they went inside the warehouse. Hands folded behind his back as he waited for his men to return. When they did moments later, container in both their hands, the man examined it, checking for damages most likely. When he found none, he smiled and waved for them to put the cargo in their vehicle._

_The foreign man reached into his pocket and pulled out a large envelope, handing it to Ricky. “Pleasure doing business with Lord Technologies. Do send Maxwell my regards.”_

_“And you are?”_

_“Dr. Saito.”_


	2. Careful

_‘Alex Danvers_

_September 23rd_

_Entry 1_

_I'm not really sure why I’m writing this. Maybe to feel a little semblance of sanity. Most likely it’s to do with being alone out here._

_If you’re reading this, it’s been three months since everything turned to shit and you’re one of the lucky ones to have escaped. Congratulations, you’re probably going to die a horrible death like the rest of us._

_Here’s all I know about what happened._

_The ‘virus’- and I use that term loosely- came in the form of fog. It engulfed the east side of the United States. No one knew what was really happening. All we could comprehend was one day our lives had been normal. Ordinary. Hell, they’d been safe._

_The next, Maine seemed to have gone insane. The people from Ellsworth started to die, but not for long. They stayed down maybe an hour or two, their bodies hollowing out, decaying at rates that was, for lack of a better word, unnatural._

_Those of us that hadn't been hit with the...plague?...watched from our homes as the news anchors caught live, the dead rising. It sounds like a load of big stinky bullshit but hey, by this point I’m sure I don’t have to convince you it’s true._

_The zombies (there’s no other word for them) tore at their own limbs, their faces. The flesh slid off like it was nothing more than melted putty._

_Disgusting, I know._

_A lot of people thought it was just really cool special effects done for an over the top prank._

_They were so wrong._

_The cities were the first to go. It had been like something out of a horror movie, or a bullshit tv show._

_Naturally airports were a festering spot that quickly spread to malls, hospitals. Eventually schools._

_Once the children were turned, that was it. It was run or die because those little undead assholes were fast as fuck._

_Those of us who were smart took to the countryside, the desert. Less population meant a harder chance to run in into those creatures and get eaten. Or worse; infected._

_So, here I am writing to you. ‘You’ being the one who finds this after I die. If I had a picture of what I looked like I’d put it in here. As it stands, internet, and basically any form of power is out. I don’t think zombies are concerned with learning how to power up the world, in fact I'm pretty sure it's not an interest for any of them so, for a while (maybe forever) you’ll just have to imagine what I look like through my interests.  
They’re pretty simple. Staying alive is among the top five in my life right now._

_The others fall in line, really. Finding food, water. Having a safe place to rest. Eventually having a bath would be nice. With soap. Weapons to defend myself…_

_See, pretty simple, practical interests._

_My story as to how I got here, alive and with a journal of all things isn’t long. Nor is it very interesting. It is, however, going to take up the rest of the sunlight available to me in this barn so maybe in a few days I’ll write it out._

_Assuming I’m not dead._

_Until next time.’_

 

The journal shut on her lap just as the last rays of sun shone through the cracks in the wood. It was chilly and she couldn’t help the shiver that ran through her body despite wearing the heavy coat and overalls she found just outside the home a few yards away. 

As far as she could tell upon walking in, it was abandoned. It likely would have been warmer inside but the safety it presented was only a false sense of security.

Looters or ‘raiders’, as she called them, liked to swing by homes just like this and break in, steal shit, abuse the people that might be inside. Like the world falling to it’s end wasn’t a big enough reason to band together and help one another out.

Alex sighed, seeing the faint wisps of her breath in the cold air. She clutched her pistol close to her chest, as she did every night, and curled further into the hay bed she made in the far corner of the barn. If anyone did come to the house she’d have a better chance of making an escape out here. Barns were usually left alone. There was something ominous about a grey, half falling apart building on a farm during an apocalypse that made most people stay the fuck out. 

For the first while, Alex was part of that majority. Until one day she found a farm with a barn and just...stopped caring. Rarely, at least in her experience, was there any undead waiting to feast on an unsuspecting traveller. Sometimes though, there was always that one unfortunate stable boy.

Like every night since the outbreak, it took the dark haired woman a long while to fall asleep. The last few month’s events running through her head like clockwork. The sadness of losing her family had long since dulled to a small ache but on occasion, the hurt would linger and grow to such an unbearable well of agony that tears streamed down her face regardless of telling herself to stop and grow a pair. 

Truth was, Alex only witnessed her father get eaten. She didn’t stick around to know if he got turned or was devoured. She hated herself for not ending his misery. 

Alex took a breath, pushing those thoughts from her mind. They wouldn’t help her right now. She needed to focus on getting to Midvale. The only place she was sure her mother and sister would have fled. When she arrived at her sister’s place in National City, she was gone, everything was overturned with large amounts of blood on the floor in almost every room. Alex assumed the worst and fled. Only a few days later resolving to try their childhood home. That blood could have been anyone’s. 

It was a small hope and a huge impossibility given the circumstances but they had always said, if anything happened, they would go home. Midvale wasn’t perfect and likely had it’s own undead infestation but the country would be safe enough. Especially their home. 

The thought of seeing them again filled her with so much hope that the possibility of them likely not being there settled firmly in her chest, festering until it became hard to breathe with the grief it brought. It was the reality that made her cry, that tore down every wall she built and made her crumble like she was five again, sobbing over a fallen ice cream cone. 

The journal lay under her head, a small comfort despite everything going on around her and the feelings whirling inside. Crazy as she knew it sounded, the journal was almost like a friend. She knew it was inanimate, had no feelings and couldn’t respond back to her but it offered a small escape. It allowed her to think of the unknown person she was writing to. 

Her therapist would tell her she was making good progress in managing her sanity, if she had a therapist.

In a way it was true, but it was also a procrastination. Every hour she spent curled up writing, she could spend gaining an extra mile to see her family. 

Alexandra sighed. She would have to find the main road tomorrow and cross the road to Utah. From there, it would take her another ten days at least to reach her destination. Probably double if she kept off the main roads and took her time getting to know each area she entered. 

Closing her eyes, she tucked her chin into the zipper of the coat and took a deep breath. Alex relaxed as she exhaled, pleased the heat of her breath enveloped her face.

The night passed in peace, not a sound to be heard or nightmare to wake her from her sleep. When she opened her eyes again it was as the sun rose. The air was crisp but she knew better than to start moving without first surveying her surroundings. True she had locked the barn doors before settling in to write, but that didn’t mean those...things or raiders weren’t waiting on the other side. 

Her eyes first darted to the cracks in the wood of the wall. From her vantage point she could see nothing. 

Standing, she gripped her gun in her hand, it’s cold steel handle like ice against her warm palm. Slowly she walked to the door and peeked through what she could. Still nothing. 

Blowing out a breath, Alex unlocked the doors and paused with her hands on the handles. This was always the hardest part. No longer could she just sit and wish for her family. No more could she imagine her younger sister by her side, helping her keep warm. It was time to face the world for what it was, her situation for what it was. She stalled, just like she did every other time. 

Finally she nodded. ‘No time like the present…’ 

Opening the doors, she let the sun shine through, it’s light almost blinding as she looked around, her eyes on the house before making their way to the treeline. 

So far everything seemed quiet. 

Good, she thought, because she needed to scour the cupboards for anything she could take with her. 

Cautiously, she walked, looking around for any movement beyond the trees surrounding the property. 

There was silence. Not a bird, squirrel or any other animal made a sound. She stopped, part of her well aware it wasn’t wise, another part hoping to catch something, anything. 

Just as she turned to the right, movement beyond the trees caught her attention. She froze, eyes flicking left and right to try and see it again. 

Her heart picked up pace, slamming what felt like a thousand beats per second inside her chest. Alex made the decision before she fully understood what was lurking behind the forest line and bolted for the front door of the house. 

A feral growl behind her made her pick up the pace, her grip tightened on her pistol just a little more. She chanced a glance back and swore a string of ‘shit, shit, shit’s when she saw what was after her. 

The growls got louder- no, closer- and just as she reached the door, the thing flung into the wall beside her. With a yelp of surprise and terror, Alex unloaded three shots but they penetrated the body rather than the head. 

With the creature distracted, she opened the door, closing it just as the zombie-child leaped for her and met the cold door instead. It howled in fierce anger, at least to Alex that's what it sounded like, and started circling the house, peering through the windows and banging on various places, looking for weak spots, a hole to worm it’s way in. 

Alex kept her gun raised and pointed as she turned with the sounds. When it came back to the front door, it was silent and she paused as well, listening. The knob of the door turned and in a split second of fear, she shot at it. It landed an inch lower than the metallic knob and with seconds to spare, she put her hand over it to stop it from turning any further. 

A snarl on the other side and a bang against the door made her tense but she kept her hand where it was, pulling against the strength of the child zombie. Risking a second to take one hand off the knob, Alex quickly turned the lock, relaxing only slightly when the thrashing from the other side ceased. It was quiet now. 

Too quiet. 

Her ears strained on their own to hear any movements coming from the other side of the door but there was nothing. 

What was it doing? Just standing there, staring? A shiver ran up her spine but she let out a breath. At least it couldn’t open the door. 

She turned, her gaze darting about the room but her mind registered something amiss, something that didn’t belong in the panoramic view from the door, to the window, to the open spaced living room. Her jaw clenched and slowly, she looked back at the window. 

Two yellow eyes stared back at her, the chin of the creature barely reaching over the sill outside. Alex stood frozen, unsure what to do next. Should she shoot? Should she go about her business and hope it went away by the time she was done? There were limited options and every one of them were risky. 

Taking a deep breath, Alex took a step forward, staring into the eyes of the creature. It’s head twitched, eyes lulling almost closed as if the closer she got the better it could smell Alex’s flesh. The woman aimed her gun at the thing’s head, watching it’s jaw work left and right, unhinge just a bit as it did so. Wider the mouth, more of Alex it could eat. 

Her heart hammered but she held her breath a moment as her finger pulled back on the trigger. As if sensing it was out of time to act, the undead child lunged forward, cracking the window just as the bullet pierced through the glass and shot right through it’s head. 

It fell to the ground with a hard thud, truly lifeless now. Breathing in deep, Alex tried not to think about the previous night and the danger she had been in with that thing lurking about. Barn’s usually kept humans out. Zombies, not so much. 

“Christ.” She muttered under her breath, but kept her gun at the ready, just in case another was nearby. It wasn’t likely, but if the child thing could turn knobs, chances are so could the rest. 

Making her way from one room to the other in the bungalow, she made mental notes of where things were that she saw for her trip to Midvale. There was a boy’s room, the kid had likely been about ten to thirteen. There were posters of video games all over the walls but what gave away the young age was the teddy bear on top of the pillow of the bed. 

A pair of winter gloves and scarf in that room. 

Another room, bigger than the boy’s and extremely pink, had a bag. It wasn’t any bigger than Alex’s current one but it was in a hell of a lot better shape. 

The next room was the master. She checked the closet and found a shelf at the back with a box of shotgun shells. 

Standing, she circled the room and nearly cried, ‘AH-HAA!’ when she thought to look under the bed and found the single barrel gun. She checked to make sure it was loaded, and hummed, pleased, when she found it was. 

Alex looked through the closet one last time and took the time to change from her old clothes to what she could find in the drawers and closet. It wasn’t anything spectacular but it was clean and warm.

Going back through the rooms, she grabbed the pink bag, gloves and scarf before exchanging what was in her bag into the new one. Not knowing what to do with the pistol, she put the safety on and stuffed it in the bag last, along with the few bullets left for it and the box of shells for the shotgun. 

Looking through the cupboards again, she grabbed the small pack of crackers and ripped it open. Stuffing the few that were inside into her mouth, she unlocked the door, peered through and when the coast was clear, she walked out, following the direction the sun was rising from. 

By midday, she should be well into Grantville. 

 

When she got there she wasn’t surprised to see the road was barricaded (likely from both ends) and security was heavy. There was a healthy line of people with their own baggage (children included among the category) waiting to get clearance to pass through to Las Vegas. 

As she waited at the back of the line, a few people from the opposite end strode through. The demand to enter the cities was far less than the demand to travel to places heavily armed and guarded like Las Vegas. 

A man near the front threw up his hands when a few more men and women came through. “What’s taking so long? Why are there people coming over from there without an issue?” 

The guard in charge frowned, holding up a hand to the man. “People please calm down, we’re doing our best to find accommodations for those who need it. Everyone crossing must be registered on a list.” Just as he finished talking his radio buzzed to life, informing a family of four, max, was welcome to cross and be taken to a sanctuary not far.

Breathing in, Alex tried to be patient but it was never her strongest quality. “I just want to find my family, I don’t need any accommodations.” 

A few people looked back at her, frowning in annoyance at her obvious attempt to butt through the line and skip the process. Her hair, untame, flitted about her face as she left the line and came next to the person at the front. “I can get to where I’m going on my own.” 

“It’s not safe, miss.” The guard protested but the fight in him wasn’t there. 

“Look, I’m one less person you have to radio in for a place to sleep.” 

Taking a deep breath, the guard looked at her, really looked. It seemed like he was going to say no and tell her to get back into line when finally he nodded, ignoring the crowd as they bristled in annoyance. “Name, destination, how many weapons?”

“Alex Danvers, two guns. This shotgun here and a pistol in the backpack. Destination, Midvale.” 

The guard raised his brows, his look saying, ‘That’s awful far to travel alone’, but she ignored it and he said nothing when the guard on the other side approved her. With a small smile she went through the opening in the barricade, passing the squad of soldiers standing guard. Alex let herself relax enough to watch the scenery as she walked. Guards and a few civilians passing through were the only people she saw. No one talked to her, something she was grateful for right now despite the shadow of loneliness following her everywhere she went. 

The closer she got to her destination, the more doubt etched itself in the back of her mind, and she didn’t want to have to talk about her family with anyone annoying enough to ask her questions.

Straightening her back, she pushed away her conflicting thoughts and equally at odds feelings, opting to concentrate on the task at hand. Stay alive long enough to get to the house. 

When she finally reached the barricade she was surprised to see it was guarded not by a wall but just a handful of soldiers. The men and women were positioned in ways she could only assume was a tactical effort to shoot from the best angles should zombies or unruly people try to break through.

“Name?” A woman dressed in full army uniform asked. She briefly glanced at Alex, her gaze focused mostly on the clipboard in front of her.

“Uh, Alex. Danvers. Alex Danvers.” The woman looked up, bemused. 

“Says here you don’t need a place to stay around here. You’re traveling right to…”

“Midvale. Look I know it’s dangerous and far but I need to find-” 

“I was going to say kill as many zombos as you can. And stay alive.” The woman grinned, nodding to the line of guards to let her pass. “I’m sure you know this but stay off the main roads. We were only able to secure this stretch.”

“Thanks.” The pale woman didn’t bother saying she already figured that out. She was grateful enough to be let passage without issue. 

She walked a hundred feet into the new territory and was impressed to see a large perimeter was sectioned off by makeshift walls with civilians stationed every fifty feet, armed and alert. Watching through the cracks beyond the wall.

It didn’t take long to find the exit. The doors were pushed open on each side with five or six armed men walking out a few paces. They looked around with their rifles at the ready and motioned with their hands for the vehicles to pass through. Before they had a chance to close the gate she jogged passed the doors and was stopped by a hand clapping down hard on her shoulder. 

“What are you doing? It’s infested out there.”

The other men took a few steps back toward the open gate, ready to go in again. Alex glanced at them and back at the man with a severe furrow staring hard at her.

“I have clearance.” 

“You’re travelling on foot?”

“I don’t have a ride so...yeah.”

He gave her a pointed glare before nodding. “Stay off the main roads.” He dug into his pocket and handed her a map and compass. “The circle is us. Stay alive.”

“Roger that.” Alex saluted, grateful for the help. It definitely beat having to find main roads to know if she was keeping on the right path. 

When the gate closed, it was her against the world again. Looking at the map, she followed with her eyes where the main road was that got her to the house. Alex blew out a breath. It was basically a straight line. About a twelve day walk the way she travelled. 

Tucking the map into her pocket and gripping the shotgun with both hands, she started onto her path to either a welcome reunion, or shattering heartbreak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates won't usually be this fast in the future. I just have a good portion of it prewritten :D. Hope you enjoyed!


	3. Allies

_‘Alex Danvers_

_September 28th_

_Entry 2_

_It’s been five days since I last wrote in this. I’d thought about it everyday, asking myself if I should stop and write. Should I make an entry or keep going? Obviously from my lack of entries, I kept going until dark._

_Well, almost dark. Around here there isn’t much shelter and what I could find was already claimed, either by a few zombies I had no intention of engaging, or people too scared to move from their location. Settlers, I call them._

_Most of these last five days I’ve had to make do under a tree, behind some bushels. There was one night I had no cover. I didn’t sleep that night._

_Midvale, by my calculations and where I am on the map, is another seven days away. I ran out of crackers a few hours ago and I’m low on water. My only hope now is I find somewhere that has both food and water. If not tomorrow, then the next day._

_I felt like if I hadn’t written in this today I’d have gone insane. It’s so quiet, all I hear are my thoughts. Sometimes I even drown those out and it’s just a void of nothing. Nothing to listen to, no one to talk to. It’s lonely as hell._

_I’ve never felt more alone in such the literal sense._

_There isn’t much sunlight left, I waited until the last rays I had left to put something down in here._

_If you’re reading this second entry, I hope you’re safe, wherever you are._

_Until next time.’_

 

The ‘town’ was impressive. 

Alex would have snorted at her use of quotations if she wasn’t so hungry. All she could attest to is it was a fitting description because this place was exactly that. A block was sectioned off from the rest of the area. There were barbed fences with a sign indicating it was electrical. 

Odd, she thought everywhere was out of electricity. 

Alex made it a few feet from the door and raised her one free hand, keeping her shotgun pointed at the ground as two men stationed on either side of the door stiffened. “I’m friendly.” 

One of the men narrowed his eyes, roving over her form. It made Alex tense until he said, “And human.”

Still bristling at his assessment, she replied, “Yes, I suppose that’s also important to claim.” 

“You bein smart, girl?” He shifted his gun and took a step closer. He was big, burly. His beard was probably the most impressive thing about him.

Sighing, Alex took a breath and tried again. “Look I’m sorry, I ran out of food a little over a day ago. I just need a place to crash for a while.”

“Headed somewhere?”

“Midvale.”

The man hummed, contemplating, before nodding. “Make sure you get a bath while you’re at it. You look like shit.” 

The retort died on her tongue, she was too grateful being let passage in to risk being thrown out because of her temper. 

When she walked through the door she looked around the walls. They were made out of anything that would lodge into the ground and stack on top or beside one another. It was an extra precaution if she ever saw one, but obviously necessary. People, armed with guns and bats with knives and nails attached to it stood every few feet or so, just like at the sanctuary at the bridge. 

For a small town trying to make it on their own, they were doing pretty damn good where defences were concerned. 

As she walked further down the road, a house stood out to her. A sign with the words ‘Corbett's Bar and Inn’ was where she found herself drawing to. She was just coming to the entrance of the place when she saw the rotation at the walls. No one needed to be hollard at or dragged to replace the people currently on watch. From what she could see and understand just from her brief minutes there, there was a timed shift. It was voluntary, or maybe it was cops and soldiers out of uniform duty bound to protect the people and the town. Either way, she was thankful for the clearance and went in the bar. 

Like an old western, everyone stopped talking in time with the music and all eyes were on her. 

Not knowing what else to do, she did what Kara would have done. She raised her hand, fingers spread in the ‘live long and prosper’ position and muttered an awkward, “Hey.”

Silence. Until a belly laugh greeted her back. “Holy fucking shit! It’s the apocalypse and this one thinks she’s in Star Trek.” It was like a domino effect. Once he laughed again, the others followed. 

Mental note: Belly laugh man is an influence here. Also don’t do what Kara would do.

Alex gave a small smile in return and walked to the bar. She sat down and visibly relaxed when the music and chatter started up again. 

“Pay no mind to him, sweetheart. He’s big and loud but that’s about all he is.” 

Alex looked up and found a woman, older than her by more than a few years, leaning on the counter on the other side of the bar. A towel was thrown over her shoulder. She wore a flannel button up underneath with two buttons too many undone. 

“Hi…” Was all Alex could get out when she could tear her eyes from the other woman’s chest. When she made eye contact there was a grin on her face with a look that was all too knowing. “I’m Alex.” She cleared her throat. “Just got here.”

“Gemma Daley. Been here about five years. I run this place for a friend.” 

“Huh...some friend. Pretty decent in here compared to a few I’ve seen these days.” She hadn’t seen any. “Wait, five years? The outbreak didn’t happen-”

The older woman laughed. “Sweetheart, this town existed long before the outbreak. It was a lot bigger then but yes, I moved here five years ago. This used to be a home. My friend’s home actually. He turned it into a Bar and Inn right after everything went to shit.” For a moment a flash of sadness flitted across her face before resuming it’s previous expression. “What can I get you, Alex?”

“Just water.” She didn’t press about where her friend was now. She could guess what happened from the solemn look on her face.

“Ah. That one's gonna cost you. Everything else is free. Or rather given on an honour system. Fresh clean water though? That’s a lot harder to come by in times like these.”

Of course. “Vodka then.” 

“Mm, smart choice. Looks like water, isn’t water. At some point we can fool our minds.” 

“What’s the currency here?”

“Trading. You got something I think valuable, we make the trade.” 

Trade what little she had or ration until she figured out her next move… 

“I’ll stick with the vodka.” 

A glass landed in front of her, surprisingly clean, and with the clear liquid sloshing inside. “Where you from?”

“National City.”

Her brows rose into the fringe of her bangs. “Made it quite a ways.”

“I’m looking for... people.” 

Gemma caught the hesitation in Alex’s voice, the downward cast of her gaze. The older woman put a hand on her hip and brought the towel from her shoulder to the counter, wiping away the spill of vodka from the surface. “I take it there’s not much hope where you’re headed.”

Tears welled in her eyes and Alex brushed them away as soon as they fell. “Yeah you could say that.” Clearing her throat, she gulped the glass, wincing when it burned all the way down. 

Gemma took it and refilled. “I’ll get you some water. On the house.” 

Alex smiled, thankful when another glass was put in front of her. She took the second one first, relaxing when she tipped it back and it was water. She savoured that one but it was soon gone and her hand was around the vodka once more. 

“Thank you.” She said, truly thankful for the compassion and the water. 

“Don’t mention it, really. Some people get a little nasty over freebies to strangers.” Gemma nodded to the man who had led the table he was with into laughter at Alex. 

“He give you much trouble?” 

Gemma shrugged. “Not really. I have a few friends of my own around here to help keep him in line.” 

Alex grinned, “Of course.”

 

For the better part of an hour Alex sat alone, nursing the vodka, willing herself to pace. Behind the bar and the woman she found oddly attractive given the end of the world circumstances, there were bottles upon bottles of liquor. She wanted to know how a place like this came to have that many bottles of booze. Each time she got the courage to ask though, someone else would steal Gemma’s attention. 

Which was fine. It was interesting watching the people around her interact. Gemma seemed to be the light of the place. Everyone knew her, everyone was friendly enough, if not a bit teasing. She gave it right back to them though, a few of her retorts making Alex grin despite herself. 

A crash through the door and a couple curses startled everyone in the bar, including Gemma. It was reflex more than fear of a threat that made Alex’s hand raise her shotgun, pointing right at the tanned woman that barged through. 

Upon further inspection she would have realized it had been an accident, if she’d stopped to ask if the woman around her age was okay, she would have found out the new patron tripped over her own feet as she walked in.

That wasn’t what happened though. The girl stared at the barrel, her eyes hardening on it before meeting Alex’s gaze. In a split second she had her own weapon, a pistol, aimed at Alex from her hip. 

Everyone in the room was silent, including the belly laugher. Music had long since stopped, chatter along with it. 

The girl took a deep breath, stating, “I’m Marie.”

Alex frowned a moment, the immediate thoughts of ‘threat’ slowly lowering her guard. “Alex.” She returned, but neither of them fully lowered their weapons, sizing one another up, trying to decide one another’s motives. 

It was Gemma who broke the silent stand off. “You ladies wanna put your heat down or do you wanna take it to the inn upstairs?” 

Marie’s eye visibly twitched but she lowered her gun first, flicking her gaze past Alex to the woman behind the bar. “You know I only have eyes for you, Gem.” 

Lowering her gun but keeping her hand on it firmly just in case, Alex turned back to her drink. She was surprised when Marie took the seat next to her. “You’re new.” 

Alex glanced up at Gemma, she was talking with a woman, drunken and startled by the ordeal. Slowly, the music played again, the chatter resumed. 

“Sorry about that. I just got here from… out there. I’m a bit jumpy.” Alex replied. 

“It’s alright, no one got hurt. Except my knee. Bashed it on the damn door as I was coming in. I suppose as first impressions and entrances go, I’m a riot.”

The humour made Alex grin but before her lips spread too wide, she took the last sip of her drink. “Hey Gemma,” She called, grabbing the woman’s attention from serving a few people already here before Alex’s arrival. 

The older woman came over, reaching across the bar and linked hands with Marie. “Everything okay, baby? You were gone longer than you said.” 

Marie’s lips pressed a kiss to their joined fingers. “I came back as fast as I could.” 

Gemma smiled, the fondness evident and strong enough that Alex looked away from the couple, deciding her inquiry could wait until their moment passed. 

It was only a moment later that Gemma turned her attention to Alex. “You called, sweetheart?” 

“Yeah, um, it says this place is also an Inn. Any chance there’s a room and a bath I can use for a day or so?” 

Grabbing a key from her pocket, Gemma looked at the number carved into the metal. “Room four. There’s a private bath joined in there.”

“How much-“

“See it as thanks for not putting a hole through my wife, hmm?” 

Alex blinked, grateful, surprised, relieved to not have to give anything of hers up, washed through her all at once. She got up and made for the stairs, intending on staying in that bath until she pruned.

 

True to her silent promise to herself, she stayed in the bath until her skin shrivelled and the pads of her fingers were alien to touch. The lights flickered once or twice above her in the bathroom but for the most part they remained on. 

There had to be some sort of generator powering the small sanctuary. Everywhere else that she’d encountered had to make due with fire, whether is be candles or lamps, old school torches. 

Alex changed into a spare set of clothes she had in her backpack and ran the water again over the clothes she came in. She scrubbed them with the soap provided, ran her fingers over the most affected areas until it smelled like the soap and looked as clean as she’d found them at the farm house. 

Hanging them where she could to dry, Alex ran her fingers through her damp hair, chancing a glance in the mirror. 

All things considered, she cleaned up pretty damn well. Her hair, still short but growing without having been trimmed in a few months, started to curl against her cheek. It was...pretty. Normally she’d straighten it out, hating the curl, forcing it into compliance. Seeing it now though, it was the smallest semblance of normal before the fog had hit. Call it nostalgia, but in that moment, she loved how unruly her hair could get. 

Leaving the bathroom, she made a beeline for the bed. It was soft, warm. So much better than the ground outside or the hay of the barns she found. She didn’t bother with the blanket, Alex just rolled over and fell into a deep, undisturbed sleep for the first time in months. 

 

It must have been just a few hours since she fell asleep but she found herself rousing, a sound distant and getting louder with each second her consciousness became aware of the world around her. 

Static.

Talking.

Static.

Alex’s eyes flew open. It sounded like a radio. Standing, she swayed a bit from not having eaten yet, from the sudden leap out of bed and the exhaustion still coursing through her body. She opened the door to her room, swiping the key and map from the dresser and pocketing them after she locked her door and went down the stairs, following the sounds. 

It was dark save for the few lights still on, the candles lit around the room. 

As busy as the place had been earlier, there was only Gemma and Marie sitting at a table, a radio in front of them. Marie turned the dials, the talking and static seeming to be one despite her efforts for something more clear. 

“How…” Alex started, feeling woozy again, swaying. She looked up in surprise when suddenly Gemma was in front of her, guiding her to the table she and Marie occupied. 

“When was the last time you ate?” 

“More than a day ago, I think?” 

“Let me fix you something real quick. Play nice.” Gemma said it to the both of them but she eyed her wife. Marie waved her off, scrunching her face. 

After a moment, Marie looked up from her fiddling. “You look better.”

“Thanks. Uh, how…” She wasn’tsure how to ask how they had lights. Even in her head the question sounded stupid. Instead she gestured to the lighting overhead and the radio. 

Marie grinned. “Solar powered generator. We were able to figure out the radius it covered and built this place around it.”

“We?” 

“Ah, there was a handful of us engineers. The outbreak happened only a few months ago but it feels like years sometimes. There were a lot more people then. We lost a good twenty or so to the travelling zombies as we were building the walls. Three of my colleagues. Owner of this place. Some friends. Most of us have lived here all our lives so the losses hurt and shit. It’s why security is so tight and well maintained.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“It’s alright.” For the first time since Alex sat down, Marie stopped playing with the radio. “I’m sure you don’t have it any easier. Gem told me. Good luck finding your people.”

 

“Thanks.” A plate of food was set in front of her a moment later with a glass and bottle of vodka between the three of them. Alex grinned, accepting the offer to have it poured for her. “Why are you guys fiddling with that thing? It’s not like other places are like this and have solar powered generators.” 

“No, but sometimes they have other means of communicating. There’s a fort not far from where you’re travelling actually. They’ve managed to get a frequency to extend this far. It’s not the best and cuts out all the time but their message is clear enough.” Gemma replied, filling Marie’s and then her own glass just as generously as Alex’s. 

“What are they saying?” 

Marie sighed. “From what we can gather, they need help. The zombies just keep coming from the east and there’s things they’re running out of that they’re having trouble getting because of the volume of those things. Too few people, too many zombies.” 

“How long have they been requesting help?”

Gemma hummed, her finger circling the rim of her glass. “A few days.” 

Alex picked at her food, thinking. Occasionally sipping the vodka, enjoying the burn down her throat and the warmth it created throughout her body. She only just noticed the wind outside. It sounded almost harsh as it howled against the doors of the bar. She made her decision without planning it out but the need to help was too overwhelming. “I’m going to Fort Ellie after Midvale. Once I know whether or not my family is safe. If they need help, I have to try.”

Marie frowned, taking a sip of her own drink before replying. “That‘s dangerous territory to go on your own.” 

Gemma hummed. “‘Rie isn’t just talking zombies, Alex. There’s territory wars going on between here and Fort Ellie. Women travelling alone aren’t given a free pass either.” She gestured between her and Marie. “There’s a reason we haven’t gone and tried to help.”

“We-I,” She corrected quickly. “Can sneak by them. There’s no way they’re going to have people watching every nook and cranny.” 

Gemma’s eyes narrowed. “You have a way of knowing where you’re going? A map?”

Alex took it out of her pocket, handing the folded paper over between two fingers. Marie shifted closer to Gemma as she laid it out on the table and handed her a pen from her own pocket. 

Gemma scanned it, finding where they were easily enough and marked an X. Scanning again, she found where the Fort was located and circled it, writing FE in the middle of it. Next she found Midvale and put an X on it as well. “You’ve got a straight path from here to Midvale. From Midvale to Fort Ellie you have to avoid these areas.” She circled three places. It made up most of the road and Alex frowned until she found a road that avoided all of it and led straight from one of the circles to the Fort. She followed it with her pen and then handed it back. “That’s the road you’re going to take.”

“That doubles the time-”

“It’s that or get caught up in that shit. Choice is yours.” 

“How do you know all this?” 

Marie pointed at the radio. “Fort Ellie’s been giving intel for whoever’s listening. Where to avoid if anyone decides to make the trip to help them.”

“Is there a way to send out a broadcast?” Alex asked. “If the signal is barely getting here maybe we can pass on the message further down.” 

Marie’s eyes sharpened. “If you could, the travel would likely get them all killed.” 

“I made it.” Alex retorted. “Besides, isn’t helping our fellow humans worth it? Their lives are at risk. More humans turned means more for us still living to have to deal with.”

Gemma took a deep breath, glancing from Alex to the radio. “I admire what you’re trying to do, I really do but you’re hard pressed to get anyone from here to go either. It’s safe here. Warm. People like safe and warm.” 

“Then I’ll go myself. I’m leaving tomorrow after I get the supplies I need. If you change your mind, you know where I’m headed.” Alex downed the rest of her drink and stood, taking the plate with her. The two women stayed behind as she went upstairs to her borrowed room. 

Gemma swore under her breath, running her fingers through her hair. “This…”

“Is not our problem, Gemma.” 

“What if that were us though, ‘Rie? And no one came to help. Or the people that could, just didn’t?” 

The younger woman said nothing, knowing the answer. They would be scrambling for help, just like Fort Ellie. She put her head down on her hands, rubbing the heels into her eyes. She was tired, buzzed. The moral war of helping her fellow humans and wanting to stay right where she was, safe and away from immediate harm, whirled inside her. 

Going beyond the walls meant leaving behind the security she had. It meant watching not just her back, but Gemma’s too.

The decision was obvious and yet so hard to make. 

She grabbed the bottle and poured herself another double. “Fucking Christ.” When she glanced up at Gemma, she sighed. Her wife had a knowing, fond, smirk on her face. “Not a word, Daley. This is a bloody suicide mission.” 

“Yep.” The older woman replied, leaning back with her glass in hand. “Gonna be one hell of a story to tell though. We’ve got nothing here for us, baby. Might as well move on, try to find a purpose.”

“If we even make it that far.” 

“Well, no one ever said it’d be easy. Besides, you don’t like easy.” Standing with a grin, Gemma put her glass on the bar and turned, placing her hands on her hips, waiting for Marie to follow her to their room. 

Gemma was right, as usual. Marie didn’t like easy. Didn’t mean she wanted to get herself killed though either. Sighing, she stood, placing her hand in Gemma’s. She left her drink right where it was, next to the radio, resigning herself to the knowledge that come sunrise, she and Gemma would be accompanying Alex on her journey to Midvale, and eventually, Fort Ellie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently this is a slow ass burn. I apologize...maybe. NoIdon't.


	4. Home

..

The next morning when Alex came down the stairs, the place was just as empty as the night before, but on the table she’d sat at there were two backpacks. One held clothes, the other food and flasks, bottles of liquor and water. Alex came to the table, her own pink bag slung over one shoulder. 

“We’re going to need that map of yours if we’re to get where we’re going in good time.” Gemma’s voice was behind her and when Alex turned, she grinned at seeing two more bottles of liquor in her hands. Putting them in the bag, the older woman rummaged through it, frowning after a moment. “‘Rie, where’s all the food?” 

The tanned woman in question came from around the corner, her hands full with canned goods and a loaf of bread. Hanging off her arm was a grocery bag filled with just as much food.

Alex raised a brow. “You guys realize we’re travelling on foot right? The lighter the load the better.” 

Marie snorted, setting the food on the table and placed her hand on her hips, a position that mirrored Gemma’s. “We’re not travelling on foot.” 

Alex frowned, confusion clear on her features. “What? How else do you expect to get there? It’s not like airports are running smoothly these days.” 

“Grab a bag, we’ll show you.” 

Alex grabbed the bag of food, waiting a moment as Marie put the cans in with the bottles. Both bags zipped, they were carried to the backdoor. “If you’re both coming who’s going to manage the bar?” 

Gemma took a breath, this was clearly a topic she loath to even think about. “Anyone who wants it.” 

Marie patted her arm and lead the way through the streets until they came to a large shed. Opening the door, she held it for the two other women and turned the lights on after closing the door behind them. Inside there were a handful of vehicles. Two wranglers, an SUV, a car and a pick up truck. 

“We have these in case of an emergency.” Gemma explained. “This baby though,” she patted the black wrangler closest to them. “This one’s all Marie’s.”

“This…” Alex couldn’t express how grateful she was at having the opportunity to have a ride rather than walking. The soles of her shoes were starting to wear thin and if she were being honest with herself, they barely would have lasted until Midvale. 

Marie opened the back and put their bags inside, grabbing a box of cereal and a water before closing it again. “I’m driving, one of you needs to navigate.” 

Gem held out her hand for the map and Alex handed it over, grateful to not have to be the one to think for a while. Marie manually opened the large door for the wrangler to get out of the shed and started it after she came back when Gemma and Alex were in. 

“Shouldn’t we close the door?” Asked Alex, looking back at the vehicles as they drove away.

“No need, we still have to pass the large doors. For that we’ll need Aimos’ clearance. Someone will be there shortly after we leave to make sure we didn’t fuck up any of the other vehicles.” Gemma replied, not bothering to look up from the map when they came to the same entrance Alex walked through the previous day. Marie rolled the window down, leaning toward the guard. 

“You’re taking a vehicle from us?” The man from yesterday asked. 

Marie grinned, patting the wheel. “This one’s mine.”

“Doesn’t matter, you know the escape vehicles are limited.”

“We’ve got business elsewhere.”

Aimos glanced at Alex in the back. “Midvale?” 

“That’d be the place, my dude.” 

The man looked at them, his eyes narrowing. His lip curled upward like he was going to deny them leave when he nodded and waved his hand at the four guards at the door on the inside. The two on the outside of the door moved out of the way when they were uprooting a good few feet of the wall to let them pass through. 

“Thanks, Aimos.” Marie called as she passed and kept her window down for air to circulate in the car for a while. 

“We’re going to skip the highway.” Gemma said after a few moments, her eyes still on the map. 

Marie looked over at her and chuckled. “Gem, why do you have your pistol out?”

“I was going to use my skills of nonverbal persuasion if I had to.” 

Even Alex chuckled, leaning back against the seat and closed her eyes, letting herself relax to the motion of the moving vehicle.

 

When Alex woke next it was dark and Marie was in the passenger side, Gemma at the wheel. She must be more exhausted than she thought. Alex didn’t feel them stop at all. 

Clearing her throat, she sat up straight. “Where are we?” 

Gemma smiled at her from the rearview mirror. “Almost in Midvale. It’s good you’re up, I’ll need to know where I’m going once we get there.” Marie rubbed her eyes, fighting the sleep that desperately wanted to take over. “You were out for ten hours.” 

“Ten hours?!” 

“Yup.” Marie replied, she even sounded tired. “Didn’t even stirr when we had to stop to fill up.” 

“There weren’t any zombies?” 

“Oh we didn’t go to a gas station. That’s a trap waiting to happen. Looters would be all over the stations. We have an extra supply from home. Though I don’t think it’ll get us back there.” Gemma looked at a meter. “We’ll have enough to get to your place but that’s about it. We’ll have to leave it there unless we come across more. Or other cars.” 

Instead of replying, Alex told Gemma where to turn when they got into Midvale. The stretch to her childhood home took only fifteen minutes and the whole way she was a nervous wreck of anxiety. 

Please, please let them be there. She pleaded with whatever god was listening. 

“That house, right there.” Alex pointed from the back and Gemma pulled up close to the garage. All three women gathered their weapons from the sides of their seats and got out of the jeep, closing the doors quietly in case there were undead nearby to hear them. 

Alex went to the front door and tried to open it. It was locked, a good sign. 

Bending down to the welcome mat, she looked for the spare key and frowned when it wasn’t there. 

“Got a plan B on getting in?” Marie asked, her body half turned to make sure she didn’t miss any movement. Gemma was positioned much the same but after a moment of silence from Alex, a clear indication that were was no plan B, she went to the closest window and peered through. 

“Curtains are drawn.” 

As if remembering something she’d long forgotten, Alex led them to the other side of the garage. A wooden fence was bolted to the side of the house and immediately she started to climb. 

Gemma huffed, “Alex what the hell are you doing?” 

“My bedroom window from when I was a kid is right there. Come on.” She replied, trying to keep her voice hushed. 

“After you, Rie.” The tanned woman grumbled but she was soon fixated on climbing and not falling until she was helped up on the roof just below the window by Alex. Turning back around, the two women helped Gemma and when they were all ready, Alex opened the window and drew the curtain. 

It was empty but her bed ruffled. Not how she left it last. 

Going in first, she looked around, trying to see if there was anything else out of place. 

Just as Marie helped Gemma get into the room, the door opened. 

Weapons were at the ready and it was only when Alex recognized the head of blonde hair and round glasses that she lowered her weapon. 

“Oh my god. Kara!” Rushing to her sister, she wrapped her in a tight hug. “I was so scared I wouldn’t find you here.” 

“Alex!” The embrace was returned, the two sisters having a moment of relief that one another were okay and finally here, together. “I’ve been waiting for days, I didn’t know if you were alive and-”

“Hey, hey. It’s okay. I’m here now. I’m here.” Alex released Kara and gestured to the two women standing behind her. “I’ve made a couple friends along the way. This is Marie and Gemma. This is my sister, Kara.” 

No one offered a hand, but weapons were holstered. 

“I’ve actually brought a couple people from work. Um...but there’s something you should know.” Kara twirled her hands, something she never did unless she was nervous. 

Alex frowned. “Okay but where’s mom?”

“Well, that’s...she’s not here. I found a note that said to stay away from the road just west from here. Bandits, I guess? I’ve been trying to figure out a way to save her and then on the radio I heard Fort Ellie’s broadcast so I thought maybe they would help-” 

Alex closed her eyes. This was too much too fast. From what Kara is was saying, Eliza was kidnapped, forced to endure god only knew what. She’d also brought people which meant more to have to look after or at least try not to get killed. On top of that she mentioned Fort Ellie. It was a mutual destination, which was great, but all that she could think of right now was her mother and how she was going to get her out of the territory of bandits. 

“Alex…” Kara put her hands on her older sister’s shoulders. “That’s not all. There’s something I have to tell you...well. Show you. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” She cast a glance at Gemma and Marie. “But you have to trust me.” 

Taking a deep breath, Alex nodded. “I trust you.” 

“Promise?” 

“Of course.” 

“What about…” She gestured to Alex’s companions. 

“I trust them too.” 

Nodding, Kara took a deep breath. “Just don’t freak out okay?” 

Alex narrowed her eyes, saying nothing at first. Whenever Kara and that phrase were combined it usually meant there was something big enough that happened where the _only_ reaction Alex was sure to have was ‘freaking out’. But this was her sister and she imagined this reunion for _days_. A little bit of trust wouldn’t kill her. 

“Alright.” 

Smiling nervously, or rather grimacing, Kara led them out of Alex’s room and into hers. A woman lay asleep on Kara’s bed, her hair just as blonde but significantly shorter than hers. “This is Cat Grant.” 

“Your _boss_? You brought your boss here?” 

“What else was I supposed to do Alex? She...look. She’s not so bad once you get past her superiority complex and snarky remarks that actually are pretty funny sometimes-” 

“Kara, if all you wanted to show me was your boss, let me be the first to say, having the ‘Queen of All Media’ here isn’t all that big a deal given the end of the world circumstances.” Alex hissed, trying to keep her voice down. 

The blonde woman gave her sister a side glance. “No Alex that’s not what I wanted to show you. Just. You promised not to freak out, remember?” 

“Yes, okay. Just show me.” 

Taking a breath, Kara lifted the blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was kinda short, I know. And boring. Next will be a lot more entertaining :)


	5. Riff-Raff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for the long ass wait. Life sucks. Muses are there one minute and the next they vanish for seven and a half years. Thankfully. It was only just under two months. Or something like that.

_‘Kara Danvers_

_September 30th_

_Entry 3_

_Alex loves me._

_We are sisters after all. I’m adopted, but the connection is there all the same._

_That didn’t stop me from sometimes feeling like despite our impenetrable bond (I use that word heavily because this one time in fourth grade, Travis Bailey tried to red-rover through our joined hands and couldn’t. Our arms hurt for a week after that but it was so worth it because we were famous for our iron grip for the rest of the year) I feel like she’d like to throttle me._

_I’d been waiting for her, fearing the absolute worst for months, since the outbreak and here she was, furious and relieved and scared and going through every emotion I expected her to when she saw me and took in the situation. Honestly she could deck me one and I wouldn’t care. She’s alive and finally here._

_My situation with Cat wasn’t one I found ideal either but I couldn’t just leave her to die or be eaten alive. Not after we realized, under the desk in her office, her lack of turning into a zombie._

_Let me back up a bit. My brain is so super scattered, this is the first time I’ve been able to actually get it in order, to actually organize without it going down a spiral of fear about what might be happening to Alex._

_Okay. So, as with any normal day at CatCo, I’d come to work just before Ms. Grant (she prefers Cat now. I quote ‘Please, Kiera, it’s the end of the world. Surely you can drop the formality. I’m hardly The Queen of All Media among all...this with zero media to broadcast to all these brain eating orcs.’)_

_Anyway, that morning Winn wasn’t at his desk, which was odd because he’s usually there before me. I’d looked around the office and noticed more than half the people were missing. My walk to work hadn’t been any different. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary._

_And then Cat came out of her elevator. Her side was bleeding, her purse barely hanging off her arm. She was saying something about the people outside going mad but I was too focused on getting her the first aid kit once I sat her down in her office._

_She had me close and lock her office door. I found it odd, along with the ‘He bit me. He god damn bit me!’ I tried to ask who but there was a crash outside her office door. And then I realized what was happening. I realized what had bit her and my eyes must have given away my fear because she took my hand and told me she was scared. It was a vulnerability I’d never seen from her before. I knew then that I couldn’t abandon her when she wasn’t showing signs of turning into a zombie._

_Rao, I hate that word. It sounds so ugly._

_She kept a small gun in her purse, which she handed to me. She wouldn’t let me say no, just in case. I watched her closely for a couple hours while we hid out of site. Cat wasn’t turning. She noticed too because after a while we made the decision to get out of there. She grabbed a media award and knocked a few zombies in the head while we made our escape from her elevator to the garage. It was so easy from there. We took her vehicle to Midvale and hid there ever since. Eliza was waiting. Of course she was waiting. I couldn’t have been more happy to see her._

_I cried._

_She helped me bandage Cat, keep her comfortable and keep a watchful eye just in case she did turn. Eliza’s a brilliant scientist so she took all sorts of samples and took them to her lab in the basement. Apparently Cat’s immune to this thing going around. Her body is just taking it’s sweet time healing._

_A few days ago we were running short on food. Eliza and I went to the market a few blocks from here. In a perfect world there wouldn’t have been a raid that day. Eliza wouldn’t have shoved me out of sight and let herself be taken with the false assumption she was the only one in the place. And I wouldn’t have frozen and done nothing. It’s my fault Eliza was taken. If I’d just done something...said something...Maybe she would still be here and Alex wouldn’t have the same haunted look on her face I know I do everytime I think about what she might be going through._

_Now that you know the very shortened version of my side of events, back to the exchange at the house; I’d lifted Cat’s shirt so Alex and her friends could see she was bit. Healing into a nasty scar, but healing all the same. My sister did not take it well. She stared for a good few moments and left the room. I heard her walk down the stairs and motioned for the two strangers to follow her._

_When I came down after closing the door, I found Alex pacing the living room like a caged animal, anger, worry, so many words and expressions flitting across her face it was clear she didn’t know where to begin._

_“Alex,” I tried, my voice low, soft. It was like trying to approach a caged animal out for blood. “Alex please say something.”_

_I expected to see fury, disappointment. Something that gave away what she was feeling. Instead there was just…. Alex. Exhausted. Tired._

_“What’s there to say, Kara?”_

_“I just… it would be better than your silence and the pacing. It’s making me nervous.”_

_Alex tipped her head back. A hint of a smile twitching her lips her expression could only be interpreted as sardonic._

_“How long as she been like that?” Gemma, one of the two women I just met, found her voice finally, a question that hadn’t yet been asked but was important to know and was grateful to answer._

_I turned to her and sighed, thankful someone was saying something. I sat down on the chair opposite Marie. “A couple months. She doesn’t seem to be getting worse but she’s exhausted. Like her body’s fighting off a virus.”_

_“Her body is fighting off a virus. Did it ever occur to you that if her body failed and she turned, you’d be her first choice of meal given your close quarters?” Alex asked._

_“I considered that, yes. Which is why I’ve been careful. I’m not stupid, Alex. We agreed the first sign of her changing I’d… I’d stop it.” At this Alex raised a brow, her face showing how skeptical she was feeling at my proclaimed ability to ‘take care’ of anything the way it was implied. “I have a gun, of course I have a gun. There’s zombie’s everywhere.”_

_“Have you actually taken any out though?” Marie’s voice seemed small, but her face was set and focused._

_“A few. Mostly we just drove.” They didn’t need to know the one who did the taking out was the wounded woman upstairs with a heavy as hell media award._

_Alex took a deep breath, her fingers itching to feel the weight of her gun in her hands. Movement above them startled her into reaching for it but I stepped toward her and put a hand on her arm. “It’s okay. She’s not going to harm anyone.”_

_“Unless she’s turned.”_

_It was at that time Cat chose to come down the stairs. She looked like hell._

_I’d never tell her that though, I’m sure she knew._

_“I was bitten two months ago, if I was going to turn, I’d have turned. Besides, I’m starting to feel better.”_

_“You don’t look it.” Alex. Even when we were kids her mouth got her into more trouble than she probably deserved. Probably._

_Cat only glared at her._

_“Kiera who are these...people.” I got the sense she wanted to say ‘riff-raff’ and chose wisely to steer away from insults._

_“This is my sister, Alex.” Her eyes pierced into Gemma and Marie next. “They are her friends. Gemma and Marie?”_

_“Yup.” The younger of the two responded, shrinking into her seat. Well, it looked like she was shrinking. There are few people that didn’t in Cat’s presence._

_Cat turned to me expectantly. “So, what’s the plan now?”_

_Alex beat me to the punch in answering. “We’re going to Fort Ellie. Maybe they can help get my mom back.”_

_“Right and how to you expect six women to get there undetected by the barbaric riff-raff who took her?” Ah there it is, the insults she couldn’t direct toward anyone in the room._

_Gemma cleared her throat. “Kara, is there any gasoline here? We can siphon what there is into the jeep.”_

_“There might be some in the garage.” I answered and gestured toward Alex. “Help me look?”_

_My sister, ever cautious, eyed Cat but eventually turned to me and nodded._

_What we ended up finding was two jugs of gas, which is a hell of a lot more than I thought we had so we took them and went through the house to get Marie and Gemma. Not a lot of traffic went by here but you never know what kind of person could drive by. I felt safer knowing there were more of us to keep watch. Especially with raiders coming closer into town._

_After we got it all in the jeep, I packed enough things for Cat and I into a luggage bag and hefted it into the trunk. Gemma put a hand on my arm as I passed her to get in. “Perhaps you should sit in the middle between Alex and Cat, hmm? I get the sense they don’t like one another very much and the last thing we need is a fight on top of going around dangerous territory. Anxieties are already high, seems like if anyone can talk them down from a fight it’s you.”_

_I had to agree with her. They told us the plan was to go around the claimed territories but for all we knew they could have expanded to the back roads too. Plus there was the issue of zombies and our vague idea of where to go. I mean we had a map and I’m sure it can be read just fine but there were so many variables we haven’t discussed._

_Like, what if we get stopped by the ‘riff-raff’ as Cat calls them. Or what if we make a stop and there are zombies everywhere? And what if, of all things, we get a flat tire? It’s sad that a **flat tire** is low on the list of possible worries. _

_Anyway, we’ve been on the road for three hours. One more and we should be at the Fort. I’m writing in here because Alex said it would be therapeutic. She was right. Maybe I can convince Cat to make an entry.'_

Kara looked up from her writing and shifted slightly to Cat. She was staring out the window, a lost sort of expression on her face. She must be deep in thought because that look rarely took hold of her in the presence of strangers when she was vulnerable. She took Gemma’s advice in sitting between her sister and her boss - former boss. 

“Cat?” 

Without looking away from the scenery, Cat inhaled deeply. “What is it, Kiera?” 

Kara felt Alex stiffen beside her and patted her knee. That was also something that bothered Alex. The woman knew Kara’s name and gave her something she liked better. A ‘misuse of vowels’ is what Cat had said to the correction of her name. Kara was used to it, had been for three years. As the woman’s assistant it was something you got over fast. 

“Do you want to write something in here? It’s actually pretty soothing…” Cat looked at Kara, her expression unreadable and for a moment she was sure she was about to get verbally scratched for making such a suggestion, but the older woman extended her hand for it. 

Kara smiled and placed the book in her hand with the pen. 

It was a few moments after that the younger blonde woman relaxed into her seat, that she heard a faint, “Thank you.” 

She didn’t say anything back but placed a hand on Cat’s knee. It was meant to be a silent ‘you’re welcome’. Kara meant to take her hand away right after but Ms. Grant- Cat- put her hand over Kara’s and squeezed gently. And kept it there.

Heat rose to Kara’s cheeks but she let her hand remain on Cat’s knee.


	6. Sticks and Stones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve returned! Real life sucks, that is all.

Getting to the fort wasn’t hard. They didn’t see a soul, undead or alive. Not even an animal. The silence was sometimes unbearable as the jeep gradually became part of the ambient sounds around them.

The place was bigger than Alex imagined. It was barricaded like the other sanctuaries she’d seen but this one was also trenched, a defence mechanism that went back hundred of years and, evidently, proved still useful. As they drove close to the edge, they could see multiple bodies in the hole. Some were still moving; starving zombies too weak to stand, too brain dead to claw their way out of the hole they surely fell into on their own, but active enough to writhe where they lay. 

The entrance remained shut, no one was outside the doors to keep watch, let alone greet them. 

“I’d get out but it doesn’t look like there’s enough room to do it safely.” Marie said, looking out the window at the pit underneath their vehicle. 

“Hopefully someone decides to look out the door soon, this smell is horrid.” Cat had a hand over her nose, the journal clutched tightly to her chest as if it might somehow help the aroma. Rotting, sour, sewage. That’s what the pit smelt like. 

Alex scoffed, giving her a side glance. “What else do you expect piles of zombies to smell like?” 

Cat’s response was a glare, annoyance flashing through her gaze faster than Kara could open her mouth to do damage control. “If you enjoy it so much, why don’t you get out and knock on the door?” 

“I never said I enjoy-”

The movement was fast from the driver’s seat. It had Kara’s eyes widening and giving the two women on either side of her a hard jab. All eyes were on Gemma, and the gun she had pointed at all three of them. 

“If I hear one more _fucking_ argument back there from any of you I swear to god I’ll blow a hole in you so fast-” 

“Gem!” Marie placed a hand on hers to lower her weapon. The fury in the older woman’s gaze died out when she looked from her wife to the gate in front of them. It was opening but instead of a warm welcoming, there were five men rushing out with guns, all aiming at them. 

A man came out last. He was older, blond and thin. His hands were folded behind his back as he looked around the premises. “State your business!” He shouted from where he stood, an english accent still clear despite his refusing to come any closer. 

Gemma put her gun in her lap and held onto the wheel, taking a deep breath. “We’re answering your broadcast. We’re here to help!” 

“And where is it you’re answering from?” 

“Midvale.” 

Something flashed in his eyes. A mistrust...uncertainty? Alex saw it and stuck her head out the window. “We’re here for help as well. My mother was kidnapped from our home.” 

It looked like he was contemplating turning them away for a moment before he nodded and turned around to head back through the gates. He raised his hand and motioned for them to come in. As they drove forward, the men parted but remained behind them until they came to a stop inside the sanctuary. The gates closed behind them, sealing whatever fate awaited them.

The place was impressive. It was bigger than where Alex met Gemma and Marie. It was like being in a town, but with only one way in and one way out. The man that greeted them at the door faced them again and motioned for them to get out of their vehicles. 

“I don’t know that I like this. They’re the ones that asked for help, why are they being so cold?” Marie asked, slowly undoing her seatbelt. 

“Would you welcome any stranger that claimed to help?” Kara asked. “I mean we’re women, yes, but that doesn’t make us any less dangerous to these people. He has this whole...place...counting on him to keep them safe.” 

Alex raised a brow. “You got all that from the two minutes we met him?” 

“Well...yeah. Didn’t you?” She was saved from Alex’s reply when one of the men with the guns came to the door and knocked on the handle. They got out, their hands raised to their shoulders. Gemma’s gun was snatched from her holster. Marie’s and Alex’s were next. 

The man narrowed his eyes at Kara and Cat, looking between the two. “And them?” He asked his men. 

“There wasn’t anything on them, sir.” 

“Oh I left it under the seat…” Kara said, realizing her mistake in telling them where it was when the four women around her turned slowly, each of them giving her a look to ‘shut the hell up’. 

The man in front of them look at them, amused. “You’ll forgive our caution. Times are bizarre. They were hard enough before. Now they’re damn near impossible.” 

Alex stepped forward, her hands still up. Annoyance was clear in her tone but this man was calling the shots. She knew it would be wise to not get on his bad side. “We’re not the enemy here. We came here because we heard your broadcast for help. And then my mom…” 

The man blinked slowly at them, as if his patience were being tested. “You did mention her outside the gate. Captured, you say?” 

“Yes, by one of the bandits with territory.” 

One of his hands stroked the bit of blond stubble on his chin. “Tall, blonde, feisty?” 

The description was pretty accurate. Too accurate. “Uh...yeah.” 

He hummed before answering. “They came here to ransome her. Complete control over the town and it’s supplies for her life.” 

Kara frowned, a fresh wave of worry washing over her. “You...you didn’t agree to it?” 

He looked at Kara sharply, his blue eyes alert, calculating. They were almost cold. “Of course not. If we submitted to every demand those bandit savages made we wouldn’t be alive. No, little girl, we did not submit to their demands. For all we knew she was one of them.” 

The younger Danvers woman huffed, fighting the urge to stamp her foot like a child. “She wasn’t!” 

“Yes, we figured after she pushed one of her captures into the trench.” The memory made the smallest of twitches lift his lips upward. 

The colour on Alex’s face drained, however. In a lot of ways, she was nothing like their mother. In others, they were startlingly similar. “She...Oh god they’re going to kill her.” 

The Englishman grinned. “Maybe not. I have someone leading the rescue.” 

“You’re saving-”

“Yes, I sent a rescue team after her. I’m a cautious man, girl, not a heartless barbarian.”

Cat muttered, “Could have fooled me.” Earning an elbow in the ribs from Kara. 

The man’s gaze flickered from the older blonde woman and took a deep breath. His patience was wearing thin, that was obvious. “That’s the idea.” He said, finally. Turning to his men, he gave a nod. “They may have their weapons back.” 

The weight of the gun in Alex’s hand was a lot more comforting than she ever thought it would be. It felt like a good friend had left for years and finally returned to her. “So, how long have they been gone?” 

“A couple days.” 

Alex frowned. “Shouldn’t you be sending people to go look for them?”

“And what people do you suggest I send? The few defence we already have, the townspeople barely making it day by day with the limited resources? Their minds are not as strong as they seem at first glance. Zombies, for christ’s sake, fall into the trench every night. The human mind can only take so much before it simply breaks.”

After a moment, Alex said, “Send me. I’ll be fast.” 

“Why only you?” 

“She’s my mother, if anyone should be out there saving her, it’s me. I’ll find your people, if I can, and bring them home too.”

Narrowing his eyes, he tilted his head and asked, “What’s your name, girl?”

“Alex. Alex Danvers.” 

Kara put a hand on her sister’s arm. “Alex, you can’t go alone. She’s my mom too-” 

“I can’t be out there with you, Kara. You’ll only distract me.” The hurt that flashed over her face made Alex visibly cringe. She didn’t mean for it to sound so cold, so harsh. 

Before Kara could protest, the commander said, “She’s right. Any distraction out there means a sure death.” 

Gemma and Marie looked at one another and nodded. “I’ll go with her. You’re going to need someone watching your back.” Marie said, stopping Alex from protesting. “Gem will stay here and make sure Kara and Cat are safe.” 

The blond man looked between Alex and Marie. They couldn’t tell if he was being skeptical or if he was amused by them, a pack of women willing to risk their lives to save the life of a woman probably already dead. “You’re going to need supplies if you’re serious about doing this.” 

Alex looked at Marie and when she didn’t see a hint of hesitation, she replied, “We are.”

Nodding, the man turned and had the five women following him to a building that was guarded at the door. The young man looked exhausted, almost ready to drop where he was and sleep. 

The blond man in front of them noticed and placed a hand on his shoulder. “How long have you been on watch, Sanders?” 

“Um, I don’t know, sir. I lost track after the fifteenth hour.” 

“Go home to your wife and babe. Get some rest and come back when you don’t look like you’ll collapse on me.” 

The man looked from his commander to the women and back. He nodded slowly, grateful to be given leave, and left them. 

Walking through the doors, the place looked like an abandoned warehouse. In the middle was a large table with a lamp overhead. Papers were folded neatly one on top of the other and he grabbed the largest one, opening it and splaying it across the table. “My people took this route.” He pointed to a penciled line. “Their base is here.” His other finger poked in the circle drawn on the map. “You two, as best as you can, will follow their trail. Should you discover they’re all dead, you have two choices. Come back immediately or continue on. The choice will be yours. Just keep in mind, one option will likely lead to your death or capture and the other will lead you back here.” 

Gemma tensed at the odds of her wife returning safely and Kara wrung her hands. 

“Well, if we do find them, what name do we give to let them know we’re friendly?” 

“Tell them their Commander, Irwin Charles, sent help.” 

Alex took out her map and laid it on top of his, drawing the same line and circling the same section he had with the pencil on the table. “How long before we can leave?” 

Irwin’s eyes glinted. “How fast can you pack?” 

 

_Catherine Grant, Queen of All Media_

_October 1st_

_Entry 4_

_If one were to ask me four months ago if I could ever see myself in a position like **this** I’d have personally recommended my therapist to them. Carla’s a darling, really. Also probably dead. _

_Keira tells me I’m supposed to write like someone else will be reading this. The idea of it first disturbed me. You, a commoner no doubt, would pick this up after I’m dead and read about my vulnerabilities._

_But I wouldn’t be the ‘Queen of All Media’ if I didn’t take advantage of this opportunity to write one last piece before I surely meet my demise. Probably from a disease contracted by the people in this...Fort. ‘The Queen Died of Pox 2.0, Rather Than the Bite of a Zombie That Somehow Didn’t Turn Her’. The headline is attractive enough._

_I don’t know how to feel about my...condition. I should be relieved, less terrified of the world. I should be thankful I’m alive. Instead I find myself constantly worrying over my sons, Adam and Carter. The last time I spoke to Adam was the day before this...mess. The last time I spoke to Carter was minutes before my office door was barged through. I told him to go to take his nanny and go to the safehouse._

_I dare not think about what’s likely come of my children. I have to have hope for them. I need to think they’re alive and, if not well, then at least surviving like the badass mother they take after. I would give anything to know they’re alive._

_And then there’s Keira. Most people think I’m obnoxious enough not to know the names of the people who work for me. Well, I don’t know everyone’s obviously but I do know her’s. Of course I know hers. She’s the best assistant I’ve ever had. Sometimes I think she knows me better than I know myself. The girl even took me to her childhood home knowing I’ve been...knowing about my condition._

_Her sister, rude as she is, just left fifteen minutes ago with one of the strays she found. The intimidating man, Commander Charles? He left us at their one and only bar. It couples as an ‘Inn’ if you could call it that. Gemma muttered about it being nicer than the place she just left. I hate to see what that must have looked like. She sat down next to me, staring at the table. Keira was not as calm. She’s been pacing ever since they closed the doors._

_..._

_I just tried to get her to calm down. I don’t think I succeeded. The conversation went something like this, “Keira, for the love of everything good left in this world **stop pacing.** ”_

_Bless, for the time being she stopped and turned to me. “I can’t help it, we have no outside communication with them. What if they’re hurt or trapped or they’ve been captured already.” Another thought ran through her head because her eyes widened and she continued her stride. “Oh god. What if they’ve been bitten?”_

_I rolled my eyes, feigning annoyance. I know exactly what she’s going through. If I didn’t need to maintain some semblance of my sanity I’d be right beside her, matching her step for step. “Look at me, I’ve been bitten and I’m just fine.”_

_“That’s because...well, I don't know. But Alex isn’t like you. She isn't like anyone.”_

_I shrugged. “Well, if she turns into a zombie and comes back you’ll at least be able to recognize her.”_

_Gemma’s glare rivaled my own when I get particularly vexxed. Keira, however, looked at me like I’d just told her Santa Claus wasn’t real. I couldn’t say anything else, she left the place and Gemma snorted. “Smooth. Can’t say being an insensitive bitch will help you win her over.”_

_“I’m not trying to win anyone over.”_

_“No?”_

_“No.”_

_She raised an infuriatingly perfect eyebrow. “Then why do you look like you regret every word that just came out of your mouth?”_

_I don’t know. I don’t know why I look like that. I don’t know why I have this awful ache in my chest. **Guilt,** I think this is. _

_I better go fix the damage I just caused._

Kara hadn’t gone far. In fact she only made it to the steps of the bar and sat down on the last, shifting to the side when someone wanted to get by her. Cat sat down on the step above hers and waited patiently while the younger woman wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. 

“It’s so dusty here, getting a bunch in my eyes.” She used the heels of her hands to press into her face and the ache in Cat’s chest intensified.

“I might not see my boys again.” Cat started, leaning her elbows on her knees. “I hope, and some part of me deep, deep, down prays, but there’s a very real possibility my boys never made it. Never stood that fighting chance like you and I had. Like your mom and sister have.” She placed a hand on Kara’s shoulder and squeezed. “Keep that hope burning strong, Kara. You’ll need it.” 

Sniffing one last time, Kara nodded. “Thanks. For…”

Rolling her eyes, Cat waved her hand in dismissal. The last thing she needed was something thinking she was going soft but for Kara, she’d make this one exception. “I know, I’m _kind_ sometimes. Tell no one.”

The younger blonde smiled, turning around. It was like Cat had been hit by an emotional truck. Kara’s eyes were bright. The sadness was there but there was hope, a shine to them that made them...beautiful. Her smile, her eyes. God but her former assistant was- Cat cleared her throat, stopping herself from finishing that thought. Not because it wasn’t true, Kara’s beauty was the office’s rage sometimes. But because she was _feeling_ something. Clearly, the feeling was a bad case of indigestion. 

“I was going to say calling me by my actual name but I’ll settle for kindness.” 

Cat’s lips were traitors. They spread easier than they had in weeks into a grin, that turned too easily into a smile. 

Across from them the doors opened but the people who came through weren’t Alex or Marie. Kara glanced over and she sat up straight, her eyes focused on them. More accurately the woman coming through with three others behind her. 

Kara stood and walked over, ignoring, or not hearing, Cat asking her if she knew the people coming through. The younger blonde stopped right in front of the woman and caught her eye. 

They stared for what seemed like an eternity, Cat glancing between the two. 

“Aunt Astra?” Kara’s voice was barely above a whisper but the other woman must have heard her because a slow, sure smile graced her lips in return. 

The woman identified as Astra wrapped her arms tightly around her niece. “Kara. Thank Rao, I thought you didn’t make it.” 

“I...how did you get out of prison?” 

Astra let her niece go but her eyes turned downcast. “Come, little one, there is much to catch up on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY WILL MEET. EVENTUALLY.


End file.
